Hawaii Bowl moves date to Dec. 22 to avoid NFL conflict

The Hawaii Bowl won’t be crowding Christmas on the calendar this year and, for that, holiday purists and late shoppers can thank Monday Night Football.

The ESPN Events-owned and operated bowl game is surrendering its traditional Christmas Eve date this year to MNF, another ESPN property, and will make the earliest appearance in its 17-year history, Dec. 22, a Saturday night, and latest kickoff, 5:30 p.m., at Aloha Stadium.

Thirteen of the previous 16 Hawaii Bowls have been played on Christmas Eve and none earlier than Dec. 23.

On an over-stuffed December sports schedule going head-to-head with the NFL, especially the immensely popular MNF property featuring the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders, on another ESPN platform would be ratings suicide.

As it is, all bowls, including the Hawaii Bowl, have struggled mightily in the NFL’s shadow. For example, the University of Hawaii-Middle Tennessee matchup in 2016 hit a 10-year Hawaii Bowl low (0.7 rating, 1.36 million viewers) going opposite a Cincinnati Bengals-Houston Texans game (6.3 million) on the NFL Network.

“Consequently, we are working on plans to take advantage of the Saturday time slot, hoping it will provide a broader participation from the many college football fans in Hawaii who wish to celebrate the postseason,” said Pete Derzis, ESPN senior vice president, college sports programming and events, in an email.

But finding a lucrative place to land on even another date in the packed bowl season is akin to trying to find a parking spot at the mall in Christmas season. Between Dec. 15 and Jan. 7, ESPN alone will televise 35 bowl games across its various channels.

So, ESPN Events opted to plunk down the Hawaii Bowl on a Saturday for one of the rare times in the game’s history. But even that was fraught with conflicts.

ESPN has three other games — the Birmingham, Armed Forces and Dollar General bowls — spread between 7 a.m. and 2 p.m. (Hawaii time) that day. So, the Hawaii Bowl takes the late, 5:30 p.m. (10:30 p.m. Eastern) time slot.

Additionally, it will put the Hawaii Bowl opposite still another ESPN property, the opening day of the three-day (Dec. 22, 23 and 25) Diamond Head Classic basketball tournament at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Moreover it initially set up the possibility — should the Rainbow Warriors become bowl-eligible with at least seven victories — of the UH football and basketball teams playing at the same time.

“As for the conflict with the second session of the first day of the (Diamond Head), we intend to play UH in the first session doubleheader on Saturday, thereby allowing UH fans to have a great day of college basketball and football with enough time to enjoy a tailgate at Aloha Stadium prior to the kickoff,” Derzis said in an email.

ESPN keeps the gate receipts from both the Diamond Head Classic and Hawaii Bowl. UH receives a flat $50,000 fee for hosting the basketball tournament while the Mountain West representative in the Hawaii Bowl receives as much as $650,000 from the conference’s take with which to pay its expenses.

Derzis wrote in the email, “We looked at the option of playing three (consecutive) days of four games a day but, considering team travel plans that had already been booked and, in an effort to keep student-athletes fresh for competition, believe this is a reasonable solution to a challenging circumstance.”

This year in particular the quarterbacks in the Hawaii Bowl aren’t the only ones forced to scramble.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.